March 30, 2023

Reflection Lounge might be moving

By JULIA LIN Editor in Chief

Student Government unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday to relocate the Quiet Reflection Lounge from its current location next to the Women’s Center to an enclosed room.

Student Government’s Vice President Idman Ibrahim introduced this resolution to move the lounge to either CSU room 256 or any enclosed room in the Centennial Student Union due to the lack of quietness that area has.

“It’s like a closet and in the middle of the hallway. Nobody wants to hear Justin Bieber while they reflect and get interrupted every minute,” Ibrahim said.

This space is mostly used by students who practice the Muslim faith and pray. With over 150 signatures from students of all different backgrounds in support of the relocation, they hope this resolution passes without hesitation from the CSU board and onward.

“At the end of the day, the student union is funded by student fees. So if there is widespread student support for something to happen in the student union, that needs to be recognized,” Student Government President Emma Zellmer said.

The topic of relocation for this space has been in discussion for a few years as the Student

Government had a task force to review the reflection space. The result concluded the space should be moved to a closed room instead of an open space in the middle of the hallway. As for the potential relocation, CSU room 256 was presented due to the proximity to the foot washing station.

“We are going off of the recommendation of a university task force that had students, faculty and staff on it, and that has been recognized by president Inch,” Zellmer said. “We’re hoping to use the work of former student governments to push this forward beyond the student support.”

Provost proposes a no finals week for MSU

By JULIA LIN Editor in Chief

Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs David Hood spoke at Wednesday’s senate meeting proposing the idea of a “no-examination” week at Minnesota State.

Stemming from the issue regarding complex schedules for everyone during that time frame, this change would mean there would be no schedule changes during the last week of the semester, traditionally known as finals week, for the time and location of courses.

MSU is ranked ninth in the nation for international students population according to the annual “Open Doors Report” published by the Institute of International Education.

“If you want to recruit more diverse students, you have to have spaces for those students,”

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Josh Peck uses humor and heart for mental health

By EMMA JOHNSON News Director

Actor and influencer Josh Peck stopped by Minnesota State Tuesday to talk about being a child star, how social media has changed and mental health.

More than 570 attendees packed the Centennial Student Union Ballroom to hear the former “Drake and Josh” star speak. Student Events Team Educational Entertainment coordinator Atlas James said he wanted to bring Peck to campus to talk about mental health.

“I chose Josh because I’ve wanted to plan events centered around creating an open environment to talk about mental health this year,” James said.

Growing up as an only child with a single mother, Peck said he used comedy as a defense mechanism and a way to control the conversation.

“I could make fun of myself before you had a chance to and, suddenly, it would turn into me feeling like I had to earn your respect,” Peck said.

Peck turned to shows and movies such as “Happy Gilmore” and “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” for not only the comedy but the portrayal of a family unit. He said it became a sense of escape.

“I just loved to have that fantasy and, in a weird way, I always felt like, ‘I’m probably going to work there one day,’ because it’s the thing that I loved most,” Peck said.

After auditioning for “All That,” Peck’s mom encouraged him to talk to the president of Nickelodeon after running into him on the set of “Snowday,” a Nickelodeon original movie. Nine months later, he got a call that changed his life.

“This guy named Albie called and he goes ‘Congratulations!

You’re going to be on ‘The Amanda Show.’’ I did that for six months and, then six months later, we were making ‘Drake and Josh,’” Peck said.

Peck also opened up about

his book, “Happy People Are Annoying,” which Peck describes as a “self-help book disguised as a memoir.” The book covers topics about addiction,

JOSH on page 7 

Finals week is a time where students at MSU endure the week where many are either taking final exams that are worth a majority of their grade, working on group research projects or finishing legnthy papers.

The reason for this proposal is to make it easier for MSU students during that week as some expressed that finals week has prompted them to change their work and life schedules due to the oddity of finals week.

Scheduling for finals week is often confusing for students, and class times and locations can change.

Multiple senators, including Senator Wing, Senator Roiger and Senataor Bryant and the Student Government President Emma Zellmer, endorsed this proposal.

Senators at the meeting said that having no finals week would help them out regarding their off campus work schedules and the anxiety that comes with finals week.

If this is agreed upon with the board this change would go into effect as soon as fall semester 2023.

This would result in regular 16-week courses where professors could choose to give a final exam or not.

Although more feedback is needed until they officially pass this proposal, the idea had the majority of the room in favor of the “no examination” week during the meeting.

DYLAN ENGEL • The Reporter

Vice President Idman Ibrahim speaks about the Reflection Lounge at Student Government’s recent meeting. The Reflection Lounge is a space for all students located in the Centennial Student Union next to the Women’s Center.

DYLAN LONG • The Reporter

Josh Peck spoke to 573 attendees Tuesday night about mental health, how social media has changed the world and acting on “Drake and Josh.”

JOLT prepares students for careers in criminal justice

Nashville shooting highlights security

By HOLLIE MEYER and ANNIE MA The Associated Press

An alarm blared and lights flashed as a heavily armed assailant stalked the hallways of The Covenant School.

Surveillance footage of the shooting Monday at the private Christian school in Nashville showed many familiar security measures, including the double set of locked glass doors the killer shot their way through before fatally shooting three children and three school employees.

“It’s just next to impossible to stop someone” coming through that door with a high-powered weapon, said George Grant, a leader with the Nashville Presbytery, which is connected with the school.

Grant said the presbytery doesn’t have a formal security program for its churches and

By EMMA JOHNSON News Director

Minnesota State students are getting “jolted” into the criminal justice field with hands-on learning.

Launched in 2003, Joint Opportunity to Learn and Strive (JOLT) is an experiential learning class taught alongside the Blue Earth County Probation Office along with a partnership with the YMCA Brother Sister program.

Director of Criminal Justice Field Studies Jessica McLaughlin said JOLT covers all probation aspects along with community and school-based mentoring.

“They learn the court processes, a little bit of history about the court system and the ins and outs of being a probation officer,” McLaughlin said. “They also learn a bit about the Mankato community and what younger students are dealing with.”

The class size on average is around a dozen students, but this year 19 students are involved. Probation agent Brady Schloesser participated in JOLT in 2010 and said it prepared him for his career.

“A lot of agents knew who I was from JOLT and they helped me get my internship in Blue Earth County drug court and then I became a probation agent,” Schloesser said. “JOLT is there to help you get the legwork done in this class before you even step foot into an actual office for your internship.”

In JOLT, students are expected to complete a checklist over the course of two semesters which includes shadowing a probation officer and getting hours with their mentee. McLaughlin said JOLT helps build students’ professionalism and time management skills.

“There are no exams and no textbooks. It’s all fieldbased experience. It’s certainly a rigorous experience for them. They’re expected to dress and communicate professionally and they do timesheets every week,” McLaughlin said. “It’s their first step into conducting

themselves in a professional manner.”

With nearly 10 hours a week dedicated to classroom time, working with probation agents and mentoring, students rack up hours that can be applied to a resume.

“We’ve had students exceed between 250 to 300 hours at the end of the year. We have some that’ll be over 300 hours and that’s not even in your internship yet,” Schloesser said.

Schloesser said JOLT allows students to test a variety of different professions in the criminal justice field to see if it’s what they want to go into.

“Some students find out halfway through this isn’t the field they want to be in and that’s okay. At least you can do it now before you get into the field and realize ‘I don’t want to do this. I didn’t think this was what it was all about,’” Schloesser said.

In order to participate in JOLT, students have to go through an application process which includes an interview and a background check.

Sophomore Jordan Le Roy, a triple major in criminal justice, law enforcement and psychology, said she decided to apply after she heard about JOLT in her juvenile delinquency class.

“I applied, but I didn’t know if I was gonna get it because I had never done something like that before. I’m really glad that I joined because I got a lot more out of it than I thought,” Le Roy said.

Junior Majd Alharbi is a corrections major and criminal justice minor. She said JOLT has been beneficial as she can apply what she learned in class to the real world.

“Usually when you’re in college, you start panicking about what are you going to do next. With JOLT, you see what’s going on and what you might be experiencing once you graduate,” Alharbi said.

“It’s reassuring to be able to see that what you’re learning you actually use.”

Le Roy said her favorite part of being in JOLT is work-

 STUGOV from page 1

Ibrahim said. “We have a huge population of students who use this space to reflect,” Ibrahim said. “We don’t have that right now.”

In other Student Government news:

Zellmer said MSU President Edward Inch is not going to honor Student Government’s resolution to keep the split payment option for international students regarding health insurance, which the university requires of international students. Split payments allow international students to pay for health insurance in two installments.

Voted unanimously by the Senate in October, this resolu-

tion proposed to keep the split payment option introduced to ease the financial burden during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Inch said in an email to Zellmer that roughly 400 international students still did not make their second half of the payment, which resulted in the loss of their insurance coverage.

“A significant amount of time and personnel resources went into connecting with re-enrolling affected students,” Inch’s email read. “Sadly, not all were able to be successfully re-enrolled and subsequently lost insurance coverage and VISA eligibility status.”

During the 2023-24 academic year international stu-

dents at MSU will go back to paying their insurance fees on a one-time payment plan. This year, insurance for international students costs more than $2,000 if paid up front, but a bit more if paid in two installments. Failure to pay results in loss of insurance, which is a violation of VISA eligibility requirements.

Student Government voiced they may bring this back up at Students United — a statewide, student-run advocacy group for students in the Minnesota State system — to advocate for student choice regarding payment plans, and making it a system-wide option instead of each state school being able to decide on their own.

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LILLY ANDERSON • The Reporter Director of Criminal Justice Field Studies Jessica McLaughlin (above) said JOLT prepares students for job prospects and future internships.

schools but that members have worked together to share best practices and improve safety.

JOHN AMIS • The Associated Press People console each other at an entry to Covenant School in Nashville, which has become a memorial to the victims of Monday’s school shooting.

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FDA approves over-the-counter Narcan. Here’s what it means

Scientists call for halt to AI race

By MATT O’BRIEN The Associated Press

Are tech companies moving too fast in rolling out powerful artificial intelligence technology that could one day outsmart humans?

That’s the conclusion of a group of prominent computer scientists and other tech industry notables such as Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak who are calling for a 6-month pause to consider the risks.

Their petition published Wednesday is a response to San Francisco startup OpenAI’s recent release of GPT-4, a more advanced successor to its widely-used AI chatbot ChatGPT that helped spark a race among tech giants Microsoft and Google to unveil similar applications.

By GEOFF MULVIHILL

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved selling the leading version of naloxone without a prescription, setting the overdose-reversing drug on course to become the first opioid treatment drug to be sold over the counter.

It’s a move that some advocates have long sought as a way to improve access to a life-saving drug, though the exact impact will not be clear immediately.

The approved nasal spray from Gaithersburg, Maryland-based Emergent BioSolutions is the best-known form of naloxone. It can reverse overdoses of opioids, including street drugs such as heroin and fentanyl and prescription versions including oxycodone.

Making naloxone available more widely is seen as a key strategy to control the nationwide overdose crisis, which has been linked to more than 100,000 U.S. deaths a year. The majority of those deaths are tied to opioids, primarily potent synthetic versions such as fentanyl that can take multiple doses of naloxone to reverse.

JUSTICE from page 2

ing with the probation officers and seeing the camaraderie.

“I think they’re very cool people and to see how hard they work and they’re very good at what they do. I think it’s kind of cool to be able to work with those people and being able to see how they handle things in the professional field and then learning from them firsthand,” Le Roy said.

Alharbi said her favorite part is being both a mentee and a mentor.

“You feel needed by the kids and I really love hanging out with the kids whether it’s school-based or community-based mentoring. You’re supposed to be there mentoring them, but I also learn a lot

The drug has been distributed to police and other first responders nationwide.

Advocates believe it’s important to get naloxone to the people who are most likely to be around overdoses, including people who use drugs and their relatives.

The decision “represents a decisive, practical and humane approach to help people and flatten the curve of overdose deaths,” said Chuck Ingoglia of the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, in a statement.

Narcan will become available over-the-counter by late summer, the company said. Other brands of naloxone and injectable forms will not yet be available over the counter, but they could be soon.

Several manufacturers of generic naloxone that’s made similarly to Narcan will now be required to file applications to switch their drugs over the counter as part of a requirement by the FDA.

The nonprofit Harm Reduction Therapeutics Inc., which has funding from OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, already has an application before the FDA to distribute its version of spray naloxone without a prescription.

from these kids,” Alharbi said.

(Alharbi said students who are in programs other than criminal justice, such as psychology or social work, should still consider joining JOLT.)

McLaughlin said JOLT gives students the chance to stand out from others by giving students a foot in the door for internships and job prospects.

“I think it expands beyond the typical classroom experience. It’s a tremendous resume builder for students,” McLaughlin said. “It’s like dipping your toes in before you jump all the way in with a career and I think it’s a great experience for anybody who wants more exposure to the criminal justice field.”

WHAT DO THEY SAY?

The letter warns that AI systems with “human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity” — from flooding the internet with disinformation and automating away jobs to more catastrophic future risks out of the realms of science fiction.

It says “recent months have seen AI labs locked in an out-ofcontrol race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no one – not even their creators – can understand, predict, or reliably control.”

“We call on all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT4,” the letter says. “This pause should be public and verifiable,

and include all key actors. If such a pause cannot be enacted quickly, governments should step in and institute a moratorium.”

A number of governments are already working to regulate high-risk AI tools.

The United Kingdom released a paper Wednesday outlining its approach, which it said “will avoid heavy-handed legislation which could stifle innovation.” Lawmakers in the 27-nation European Union have been negotiating passage of sweeping AI rules.

WHO SIGNED IT?

The petition was organized by the nonprofit Future of Life Institute, which says confirmed signatories include the Turing Award-winning AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio and other leading AI researchers such as Stuart Russell and Gary Marcus. Others who joined include

Wozniak, former U.S. presidential candidate Andrew Yang and Rachel Bronson, president of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a science-oriented advocacy group known for its warnings against humanity-ending nuclear war.

Musk, who runs Tesla, Twitter and SpaceX and was an OpenAI co-founder and early investor, has long expressed concerns about AI’s existential risks.

A more surprising inclusion is Emad Mostaque, CEO of Stability AI, maker of the AI image generator Stable Diffusion that partners with Amazon and competes with OpenAI’s similar generator known as DALL-E.

WHAT’S THE RESPONSE?

OpenAI, Microsoft and Google didn’t respond to requests for comment Wednesday, but the letter already has plenty of skeptics.

MATT ROURKE • The Associated Press

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved selling overdose antidote naloxone over-the-counter, Wednesday, March 29.

The Associated Press

MICHAEL DWYER • The Associated Press Are tech companies moving too fast in rolling out powerful artificial intelligence technology that could one day outsmart humans?

David sculpture visitors rise after Florida uproar

By TRISHA THOMAS The Associated Press

Visitors flocked to see Michelangelo’s David sculpture in Florence on Tuesday, following an uproar over a Florida school’s decision to force the resignation of the principal over complaints about a lesson featuring the Renaissance masterpiece.

Tourists, many of them Americans on spring break or studying abroad, posed for selfies in front of the giant marble statue, which features the Biblical David, naked with a sling over his shoulder and a rock in his hand, ready for battle with Goliath.

Florence’s Galleria dell’Accademia, which houses the sculpture, reopened Tuesday after its weekly Monday closure, and both tourists and locals alike couldn’t get over the controversy.

“It’s part of history,” said Isabele Joles from Ohio, who is studying French and Italian art with her school group. “I don’t understand how you can say it’s porn.”

She and other visitors were reacting to the decision by Tallahassee Classical School board to pressure Principal Hope Carrasquilla to resign last week after an image of the David was shown to a sixth-grade art class.

Carrasquilla believes the board targeted her after three parents complained because they weren’t notified in advance that a nude image would be shown, while a third called the iconic statue, which is considered the height of Renaissance

sculpture, pornographic.

The school has a policy requiring parents to be notified in advance about “controversial” topics being taught.

Over the weekend, both Florence’s mayor and the museum

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• Candidates must be 18 years of age, have valid driver's license, and pass a DHS background study.

director voiced incredulity over the ruckus and issued invitations for the ousted principal and the school community to come and see the sculpture for themselves.

“We are talking about the roots of Western culture, and

‘David’ is the height, the height of beauty,” museum director Cecilie Hollberg said in an interview Tuesday, as tourists brushed past her snapping selfies with the statue.

The controversy wasn’t only a topic of conversation in Florence.

On Monday night in Tallahassee, a large crowd showed up for a school board meeting with public comment on the issue of the David statue controversy lasting over an hour, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

Some parents and teachers criticized the board and even asked chairman Barney Bishop to step aside.

“Given the dissatisfaction of all these parents with your leadership, would you be willing to lead us by integrity by resigning?” asked teacher Ben Steigner.

Bishop refused, saying he intends to remain as chairman through the end of his term in May and then another year on the board, the newspaper reported. The five trustees are elected by themselves, not the parents, and serve three-yearterms.

New Principal Cara Wynn told the school board that nine students had left the school since the David controversy began, but that three had enrolled.

ALESSANDRA TARANTINO • The Associated Press

The Florence museum and the city’s mayor are inviting parents and students from a Florida charter school to see Michelangelo’s sculpture of David after the school principal was forced to resign a sixth-grade art class’ complaints.

Julia Lin Editor In Chief Emma Johnson News Director Joey Erickson Variety Editor

Alicia Reed Sports Editor Dylan Engel Photo Editor

Why you should say ‘no’ more

Generation Z. The generation that comes after Millennials born between 1997 and 2012 according to Pew Research Center.

This generation is discussed to be one of the most empathetic generations thus far. Meaning they struggle with telling others no, even if what they are agreeing to, does not benefit them.

Stemming from a multitude of reasons, many could imagine that the repercussions of saying no to someone or something can result in the fear of being selfish.

If you have trouble speaking up about your food order being wrong, feeling bad for not buying something at a locally owned store or apologizing way too often, then this may be directed toward you.

Many can say that this stigma stems from social anxiety. However, we as students shouldn’t feel bad for saying no to situations that either don’t line up with our values or cause us mental stress.

We as students should speak up if a situation is not what we intended and also stop the passiveness that seems to run in Minnesota natives’ blood.

Sometimes people are willing to let their values be trampled on because of their fear of seeming selfish or rude. However, expressing your thoughts or how you feel isn’t rude when done correctly.

Saying no to hanging out with some friends isn’t selfish. Taking time for yourself is a necessity and should be normalized.

Oftentimes we get caught up in the narrative that we as students have to be accomplishing a million things at once. In reality, doing one thing really well is better than doing a million things with minimal effort and execution.

We as Generation Z also tend to feel an overwhelming sense of guilt when we say no. Compared to our parents, it seems like when we have to tell someone no we feel more empathetic toward the other party than previous generations like our parents.

When you are unable or feel uncomfortable saying no, this opens up a door for people to take advantage of or walk all over you.

Usually, this ends up being a situation where you now have too many things on your plate without the tasks you were given really adding any value to your life or goals.

It is important that you feel confident that you can say no. Saying no can be empowering while also setting boundaries with others in order to have a healthy relationship.

As students, where most of us are Generation Z, need to understand that not saying yes to everything is okay.

By ANDREA SCHOENECKER Staff Writer

My time in Laramie has been more than fun. It has been an adventure that I could never have imagined. These past few months have been amazing, but I have hit the point I hit every semester where I am ready for the end to come. I am a little burnt out, and I am ready for summer to begin.

Being away from home, this feeling has hit a bit harder than semesters in the past because now I have the aspect of looking forward to coming home.

But with that, it also means I have limited time to spend with friends here in Laramie; because a majority of my friends here are from Europe, it is highly unlikely that I will see them for a very

long time.

This leaves me with the aspect of not having enough time. My time with Sophia is slowly being cut shorter and shorter and the list of things we want to do together keeps growing.

With a little over a month left in the semester, my weekends are filling up with these adventures. But, as I said, our time is running out. It truly makes me sad that I have such limited time.

The confliction of wanting to stay somewhere with the new found friendships and missing my friendships and family back home sometimes tears me in half. But in a way, it has propelled me to make the most out of my time in both places.

I make an effort to make my time special with the people I love from back home

and the people I have limited time with here. Even with how much I miss Minnesota, something I can never get enough of that is not back home is the mountains. For me the mountains feel like home and they are one of the things I’ll miss when I return home.

My trips to Fort Collins, my hikes through the rugged terrain and the way the sun hugs the mountains at sunrise and sunset. Beyond friendships, these are some of the things I will miss most that Minnesota will not be able to replace.

I’m grateful for the opportunity I have been given here in Wyoming, but my heart is sitting in two places, and it is hard to know if I am ready to leave or if I want to stay forever in this beautiful temporary home.

SOPHOMORE

ABDI MOUSSA, JUNIOR

AMANDA BROWN, SOPHOMORE

MARISSA WALDOCH, SENIOR

BILLY MARQUARDT, FRESHMAN

Courtesy Andrea Schoenecker

I am going to miss the way that the sun hugs the mountains during sunrise and sunset.

Too much time, but also not enough

Editorials represent the opinions of The Reporter editorial board. The opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of the college, university or student body.

Boy Scouts’ $2.4 billion bankruptcy plan upheld by judge

Elephant in the dining room: Startup makes mammoth meatball

By RANDALL CHASE The Associated Press

A $2.4 billion bankruptcy plan for the Boy Scouts of America has been upheld by a federal judge, clearing an important hurdle in the legal challenge by certain insurance companies and dissenting sex abuse survivors.

The plan would let the Texas-based organization keep operating while it compensates tens of thousands of men who say they were sexually abused as children while involved in Scouting.

The ruling released Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Delaware rejected arguments that the bankruptcy plan wasn’t proposed in good faith and improperly strips insurers and

body issues and growing pains.

Peck said he wanted to write the book as a way to connect with his fans.

“It felt like a unique opportunity to share with people who might have grown up with me to show how it might have appeared that I had it all together when in fact I was going through all my own growing pains,” Peck said. “It feels great to be honest and vulnerable and to say ‘I was able to get through it, and if I can, you can too.’”

Peck got back into the spotlight after coming across Vine six months after it was released. By posting a video every day, Peck amassed hundreds of thousands of followers. Peck mentioned how, when he started a YouTube channel, it took a while for the money to come in.

“For a year, my videos were dismal, the views were not there. I was not doing great and I was surrounded by all these

TONY GUTIERREZ • The Associated Press

survivors of their rights.

More than 80,000 men have filed claims saying they were abused as children by troop leaders around the country. Plan opponents say the staggering number of claims, when combined with other factors, suggest the bankruptcy process was manipulated.

Judge Richard Andrews said he found no fault with the plan’s initial approval by a federal bankruptcy judge in September, although he agreed with the previous judge that it was “an extraordinary case by any measure.”

“The appellants have failed to put forth evidence that would demonstrate clear error in the bankruptcy court’s careful findings of facts,” the judge wrote.

vloggers and I was trying to basically do an impression of them,” Peck said.

Since Vine shut down, Peck has amassed over 27 million followers on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. He said the most exciting part of being a content creator is there are no gatekeepers telling you what you can or can’t create.

“If it makes you laugh, cry or anything in between, you can find an audience,” Peck said. “If you’ve ever sort of flirted with the idea of creating your own content, the time is now. There are no barriers.”

Junior Lexi Blackford said she found the event to be more fun than she thought.

“I liked that he could still be funny, but was hitting home,” Blackford said.

Junior Ellen Solem said she found some of Peck’s topics relatable.

“I know we all struggle with self-esteem and being true to

A spokesperson for lawyers representing several non-settling insurance companies had no immediate comment, but attorneys have previously suggested the case could eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Boy Scouts issued a statement describing the ruling as “a pivotal milestone” that “solidifies a path forward for both survivors and Scouting.”

“We look forward to the organization’s exit from bankruptcy in the near future and firmly believe that the mission of Scouting will be preserved for future generations,” the statement said.

Under the plan — which the Boy Scouts describe as a “carefully calibrated compromise” — the organization itself would contribute less than 10%.

ourselves. We’re all kind of in that in-between stage of high school, but not being real adults yet,” Solem said. “To just hear somebody that has the experience that he does and the influence to say ‘Be you’ is pretty cool.”

Peck wrapped up the talk by saying there’s no rush to figure things out and to be nice to yourself throughout the process.

“When you graduate, the world and maybe your parents are like ‘Alright, now go out and start your life. You’re in a mad dash to get a career, make money and set up your life, but it’s all going to come in due time,” Peck said. “Try to enjoy the process a little bit. Have those cool experiences and not just be so worried about hustling.”

Peck’s book is available for purchase at the MSU bookstore.

By MIKE CORDER The Associated Press

An Australian company on Tuesday lifted the glass cloche on a meatball made of lab-grown cultured meat using the genetic sequence from the long-extinct pachyderm, saying it was meant to fire up public debate about the hi-tech treat.

The launch in an Amsterdam science museum came just days before April 1 so there was an elephant in the room: Is this for real?

“This is not an April Fools joke,” said Tim Noakesmith, founder of Australian startup Vow. “This is a real innovation.”

Cultivated meat — also

called cultured or cell-based meat — is made from animal cells.

Livestock doesn’t need to be killed to produce it, which advocates say is better not just for the animals but also for the environment.

Vow used publicly available genetic information from the mammoth, filled missing parts with genetic data from its closest living relative, the African elephant, and inserted it into a sheep cell, Noakesmith said.

Given the right conditions in a lab, the cells multiplied until there were enough to roll up into the meatball.

More than 100 companies around the world are working on cultivated meat products, many of them startups like Vow.

MIKE CORDER • The Associated Press

On Tuesday, March 28 a federal district court judge upheld the approval of a $2.4 billion bankruptcy reorganization plan aimed at resolving tens of thousands of child sexual abuse claim against the Boy Scouts of America.

An Australian company has created a meatball made of lab-grown cultured meat using the genetic sequence from the long-extinct mastodon.

JOSH from page 1

SPORTS S

Mavericks leave Beavers in the dust

By CHARLIE GROEBNER Staff Writer

It is often said that to truly succeed in sports, you need to get punched in the mouth and humbled.

After having their streak ended, Minnesota State baseball chose to take that loss very personally going into last Tuesday’s doubleheader matchup against Bemidji State.

Once again having to play in neutral territory due to the weather, the Mavs took a road trip across the southern border to play the Beavers. Entering the first game of the day, the Mavs dominated their opponent on both sides of the ball.

Entering the bottom of the third inning, the Mavs capitalized off careless mistakes from the opposing pitchers. Three wild pitches and a walk from sophomore Derek Hoffman allowed the Mavs to jump out to a 4-0 lead.

However, things immediately went from bad to worse for the Beavers. In the Bottom of the fourth, the Mavs ran the table with an RBI single, two RBI doubles and two homers to give them a score of 11-0 after being retired.

Their warpath continued as they added another RBI or a fly ball, a double and another homer-

un to sit with a massive lead. While the Beavers broke up their cold streak with a single run to make it a 17-1 game, it was not enough to

recover from the game.

After a short rest period, theMavs were not finished with sending their message to other teams in

the conference. The second inning saw the Mavs launch homers and singles all over the field of play. Generating a total of fourteen runs

alone before they were even halfway through the second game of the day.

When the side was finally retired by the Beavers, the Mavs started to cool off for the next few innings. It wasn’t until the fifth when the Mavs got back to extending their enormous lead.

The fifth inning saw freshman Louis Magers single to right to send freshman Tanner Thompson home, extending their lead to 16-0 as they entered the halfway mark in the contest.

The sixth inning saw sophomore Ryan Bachman homer to center field and freshman Cole Ranweiler launch a double to left field to give the Mavs an 18-0 lead entering the final inning.

The Beavers, desperate for runs, tried their best to make the most out of the final inning. However, all they were able to make happen was an RBI off a fielder’s choice and a final homer to conclude with a final score of 18-4.

Not only did the Mavs sweep the Beavers once again, but they set a record in the rivalry’s history.

The last time the Mavericks scored 35 runs in a doubleheader was against Bemidji, after scoring a combined 51 runs on April 11th, 2015.

Men’s hockey: Looking back at 2022-23

By KARSON BUELOW Staff Writer

With their heartbreaking 4-0 loss to the St. Cloud State Huskies in the first round of the NCAA tournament, the Minnesota State Men’s Hockey team concluded the 2022-23 season with a 25-13-1 overall record including going 169-1 in CCHA play.

The Mavericks were faced with tough shoes to fill heading into this season, following the most successful season in program history that saw the team fall just short of the national title. But the biggest question surrounded the goaltending position following the leave of the 2022 Hobey Baker winner, Dryden McKay.

McKay had been the backbone of the Mavericks’ program ever since arriving on campus as a young, but promising goaltender. His leave required Minnesota State head coach Mike Hastings to do a fair share of searching among his three goaltenders early this season to find out which could be his goto man.

And with three non-conference matchups with college hockey’s historic powerhouses to start this season, Hastings was given opportunities to test out both sophomore and freshman goaltenders, Keenan Rancier and Alex Tracy. While Hastings was searching for his potential starter those first six games, two unlikely forwards were bloom-

ing at point-per-game averages, in senior Sam Morton and junior David Silye.

In retrospect, not many could say they picked Morton or Silye to open the season with their respective scoring streaks considering the talent they had around them. But the Mavericks took the first major blow to their roster in their first meeting with St. Thomas, when Morton took a nasty fall into the boards and injured his knee, knocking him out for the rest of the season.

The Mavericks were lacking in production from their group of seniors which had taken them to two straight Frozen Fours heading into this season. And the question marks surrounding the group affected their record as well, as the Mavericks were swept in two straight home series – a stat which hasn’t happened in several years.

But the Mavericks were looking to make a momentum shift heading into the 2023 calendar year. Minnesota State opened 2023 by winning eight straight games including a statement series sweep on the road against CCHA foe Northern Michigan.

In the process, Hastings found trust in Rancier as his starting goaltender who started the rest of the games during the season. The Mavericks had a few hiccups during the last few games of the regular season.

“Just the selflessness over the

second half,” said sophomore forward Zach Krajnik. “I think we’ve grown a lot in these last couple months and there’s nobody I want to go to battle with than these guys.”

But a dramatic regulation win in the final game of the regular season against Michigan Tech was enough to secure the Mavericks

their sixth-straight McNaughton Cup awarded to the CCHA’s regular season champion. Minnesota State took care of business in the first two rounds of the conference playoffs, outscoring Lake Superior and Ferris State by a 15-4 margin in three games.

Taking care of business in the

opening rounds, Minnesota State met up with Northern Michigan one final time in the CCHA championship for the coveted Mason Cup. In one of the most heart-stopping, thrilling games in Maverick history, Minnesota State defeated Northern Michigan to secure their

File photo

The MSU Men’s Baseball team returns home after defeating Bemidji State Tuesday, March 28, in a double-header victory with the first game score of 17-1 and the second game at 18-4, ending after seven innings.

DYLAN ENGEL • The Reporter

MSU Men’s Hockey team season concluded with a 25-13-1 record. Highlights of the season were reaching their sixth-straight MacNaughton Cup win, two-time Mason Cup Champions, and back-to-back NCAA D1 tournament appearances.

Men’s rugby is back to host tournament

Men’s golf gets a mid-tier finish

By HAYDEN LEE Staff Writer

After their fall season ended in a trip to Nationals, the Mankato Men’s Rugby team is back in action for their spring season.

Rugby at Minnesota State has a long and storied past, as their first games were played in 1975-76. At that time, the Mavs played teams such as the Albert Lea Aardvarks, Le Seuer, the University of Minnesota, Faribault and St. John’s University.

The 2022 Northern Lights Division II Conference Champions are looking forward to continuing their successful year with a weekend at home. SJU played host to the first match of the season for the Mavs, where they took part in a 15s and 7s exhibition game.

7s and 15s are the main style of rugby. 7s brings a more fast-paced style of rugby where the teams are able to keep the ball alive, whereas

 2022-23 from page 9

spot in the NCAA tournament.

Under 24 hours after the Mavs knocked out the Wildcats, they learned that they’d be facing off in the toughest region in the tournament against St. Cloud State. The Mavericks had lost two one-goal games against St. Cloud earlier in

in 15s, the game slows down, and you see a lot more tackling.

The Mavs are a team led by a lot of “experienced talent,” but also have a lot of rookies still learning the ropes. One of those rookies is junior Dominic Bothe.

“The biggest challenges for me have been learning the rules and getting back into shape,” said the speedy Wing Bothe. “Trying to jump back in this year has not been easy.”

On Saturday, the Mavs will play host to a tournament including the University of Minnesota, Duluth Bulldogs, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Pointers and the Winona State Warriors. This weekend is a 10s tournament where each team will play in four 20 minute matches with 10 minute halves. The Bulldogs, Warriors and Pointers will be ready to try and knock the champs off their throne.

Following this weekend’s action, the Mavs are looking for-

the season, but were a different team and were looking to leave that series a distant memory.

Unfortunately, the Mavericks couldn’t hold off the Huskies and were eliminated from the tournament by a 4-0 final score.

“The group that is gonna be moving on whether it be guys

Courtesy Dominic Bothe

ward to their 15s Alumni game April 8 and another 15s match in Otsego April 15.

The Mavs’ Men’s Rugby team is more than just an organization that allows players to play rugby competitively. They also create relationships within the rugby community, building life-long friendships. The five core values of teamwork, respect, enjoyment, discipline, and sportsmanship hold players accountable and make the game special for all who enjoy the environment and culture that is rugby.

“It’s awesome, there’s a lot of value in rugby, we even have a matching tattoo tradition,” said Bothe. “Something that surprised me is how genuine and nice everyone is. I feel like it kind of breaks sports stereotypes, but we’re really just like a family.”

The Mavs will take action Saturday from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. in the Mavericks All-Sports Dome.

graduating or some underclassmen getting opportunities to play at the next level, I want to say thank you,” said Hastings. “I want to make sure they’re recognized for the work they’ve done in elevating our program to where it’s at.”

By LUKE JACKSON Staff Writer

The Minnesota State Men’s Golf team finished in the middle of the pack at the NSIC Preview in Blue Springs, Missouri Tuesday.

Adams Point Golf Course is a 6,890-yard course that plays to a par-72. It hosted 20 teams from both the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletic Association to showcase their skills and get a feel for the course before the NSIC Championship in two weeks. The Mavs shot 310 Monday which positioned them in 12th place, but their 305 performance Tuesday jumped them up to 10th place to finish the tournament. The combined shooting of 615 tied them with Sioux Falls.

Going into the tournament, head coach Alex Schmitz highlighted that he wanted to “keep big numbers out of play,” despite the 10th place finish, this was mostly achieved. Three Mankato golfers were individually able to tie for 25th place while junior Jack Klimek finished at 36.

Last year at the NSIC Preview, the Mavs took ninth place with a worse score of 617. Even though they had a better finish at the tournament, the Mavs still saw big improvements individually.

Senior Ben Laffen shot a high 80 Monday but was able to find his groove shooting four birdies Tuesday which allowed him to shoot an even par. Laffen finished shooting 152 alongside his teammates Joe Bigger and Marcus Belka. Last year, the best individual scores from the Mavericks came

MID-TIER on page 11 u

Courtesy MSU Athletics

Minnesota State’s Rugby team is set to host a tournament this weekend in the Mavericks All-Sports Dome, Saturday from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m.

Minnesota State’s Men’s Golf team finishes in 10th place at the NSIC Preview in Blue Springs, Missouri Tuesday.

Women’s golf looks to improve before NSIC Preview

MLB broadcasters adapting to faster pace

By JOE REEDY The Associated Press

Major league pitchers and batters aren’t the only ones going on the clock this season — big league broadcasters have also been using spring training to adjust to baseball’s new rhythm amid a series of rules changes.

When the season opens Thursday, Major League Baseball will usher in an age of sharper, quicker and more concise commentary.

For a generation of play-byplay pros who grew up idolizing loquacious storytellers like Hall of Famer Vin Scully, it’s been an adjustment — but not necessarily an unwelcome one.

“It’s been one of the most enjoyable spring trainings I’ve had in a long time,” said Greg Brown, who is in his 30th season calling Pittsburgh Pirates games on radio and television. “I think over the years I’ve been critical of a lot of things Major League Baseball has done, but in this case, I think they’ve got it right.”

With only 30 seconds between batters and 15-20 seconds between pitches, announcers have had to learn where to focus their view between pitches so they don’t miss anything.

By MOHAMED WARSAME Staff Writer

The Minnesota State Women’s Golf team were back on the green Monday and Tuesday for the 2023 Holiday Inn Express Missouri West Invite. The Mavericks finished in eighth place with a total team score of 663.

The competition was held in St. Joseph, Missouri at the St. Joseph Country Club. They played on a par-72 and a 5,836 yard course. The nine-team event was hosted by Missouri Western. The Griffons won the team event with a score of 604.

This is the first competitive event that the team have taken part in since the NCAA Super Region Preview back in October 2022. The Mavs were able to get a chance to shake the cobwebs off when they took a trip to Litchfield Park, Arizona, to participate in the SMSU Spring Invitational at Wigwam Golf Club.

Prior to and after the spring invitational, the new golf facility on campus was an enormous factor in getting the team ready for the event. The contributions of the facility that opened its doors Jan. 27 cannot be overstated, as it gave both the men and women a chance to work on their game like never before. The women’s team didn’t have much time off from swinging their golf clubs after the NCAA Super Region Preview. The team was able to access the facility in November. With so much of the sport being about mechanics, the squad was able to stay locked in throughout the winter.

“Being able to go right from outside and not take any time off and be able to continue what you’ve been working on all fall

and even prior to that they work all summer on their games. You know what a lot of schools that don’t have facilities or don’t have the luxury, you know to have something like that. You definitely see it come springtime,” said head coach Alex Schmitz.

In the days leading up to the competition, Schmitz was excited to see his freshman perform well, along with having his seniors pick up where they left off in the fall.

“I think you know, going into our first tournament really looking forward to our freshman playing well, our top five has been our same top five all fall you know, it hasn’t changed. Looking for our leadership, our seniors and our upperclassmen, to just continue what they did in the fall. Looking forward to see them put all the time and the effort that we put in over the winter, just show itself on the golf course,” Schmitz said.

Freshman Sammy Youngquist was a shining light for the Mavs at St. Joseph Country Club. Youngquist paced the Mavs with a score of 164. This earned her a tie for 21st place. This comes off the back of her impressive performance in the spring invitational, where she was tied for 16th and shot a 158. Senior Anna Cihak finished tied 27th with a 166, while junior Delenay Conrad shot a 168.

Senior Madi McGinty shot a 167 and accounted for two of the five birdies the Mavs got Tuesday. Senior Sam Soulier rounded out the team scoring with a 170. On an individual note, sophomore Kelly Winter shot a 169.

There is a quick turnaround for the Mavs as they head into their next event. They will be going back to Missouri for the NSIC Preview April 3-4.

To say the quick pace affects all elements would be an understatement. Brown, who said he is a notorious water drinker, has started to chew on hard candy to keep his mouth from drying up — a trick he learned from Scully.

Before joining the Arizona Diamondbacks last season, Chris Garagiola did games for Pensacola in the Double-A Southern League, which had a pitch clock and limited infield shifts.

But even with that experience, Garagiola is still learning the best way to get the requisite promo-

tional reads during games.

Garagiola said last season he would do some during the middle of an at-bat if the game was lagging, but now he is trying to do them coming out of a break between innings or immediately after an out.

Many worry the new rules will take away the storytelling and folksy nature of calling baseball on the radio.

Then again, Scully thrived in an age when games were quicker, too — the average time of big league games never exceeded 2 hours, 40 minutes until 1982. The average time has been above three hours since 2012, including 3:10 last season.

Cleveland Guardians radio broadcaster Tom Hamilton said he paid too much attention to the clock during the first week of spring training, to the point where he was missing what happened in the field.

Hamilton hopes the one adjustment that umpires can make is being more demonstrative on

pitch clock violations and whether it is on the pitcher or batter.

“You have to pop up your head in a hurry after writing something down, or you miss something. I’ve gotten burned on that a couple of times,” said Hamilton, who has done radio for Cleveland since 1990.

“You’ve got to be a lot more judicious with your words and get in and out of things quicker because it’s amazing how quickly an inning of baseball can go by right now.”

Hamilton said the last three innings of baseball games had become like the final 2 minutes of some basketball games because of how things tended to grind to a halt.

“I would have a hard time finding a group of people that enjoyed watching nothing. We’re saving 25-26 minutes of nothing,” Garagiola said.

“I did the math over a whole season, which adds up to under 80 hours. I mean, just three full days of nothing.”

Courtesy MSU Athletics

Minnesota State’s Women’s Golf team finishes eighth at the 2023 Holiday Inn Express Missouri West Invite Tuesday.

JEFF ROBERSON • The Associated Press Houston Astros’ Jose Altuve (27) bats as the pitch clock ticks down during the fifth inning of a spring training baseball game against the Boston Red Sox.

Final Four a chance for SDSU to double its championships

Bulls C Drummond ruled out after posting about mental health

By BERNIE WILSON The Associated Press

The number of San Diego State teams that have won an NCAA Division I championship can be counted on one finger.

Many Aztecs fans and alumni have no idea because it happened 50 years ago and the school dropped men’s volleyball in 2000. Brian Dutcher, who has been on campus for 24 years, does know about that championship and would love to double the school’s total when he coaches the Aztecs in their first Final Four.

“Volleyball. Men’s volleyball. Chris Marlowe,” Dutcher said, referring to one of the stars of that 1973 team, who went on to win a gold medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and once broadcast SDSU basketball games on local TV. “They’re hard to get so you value every one of them when you can get one.”

SDSU’s first trip to the Final Four, secured with a nail-biting win against Creighton, has resonated with Aztecs alumni and fans, as well as throughout this championship-starved city. Even Bill Walton is stoked, which shows how big of a deal it is. The Aztecs (31-6) will play fellow first-timer Florida Atlantic (35-3) in the national semifinals on Saturday.

Marlowe, who does play-byplay for the Denver Nuggets, said he lost count of the number of calls, texts and emails he received after the Aztecs won the South Region final Sunday. The highlight was a voice mail from Walton, who grew up near SDSU, won two national titles under John Wooden at UCLA and watched his youngest son, Chris, play for Steve Fisher at SDSU in the early 2000s.

“It went on for maybe two minutes about ‘How great it is for San Diego State and Chris Marlowe, you were an Aztec!’ You know how Bill can rant. It was just so

much fun to listen to his message. I called him back and I now have a dinner invitation at his house when in August we go down there for vacation.”

SDSU has had some great individual basketball players, including Kawhi Leonard, Michael Cage and two-sport star Tony Gwynn. Gwynn still holds SDSU’s game, season and career assists records. He was drafted by both the Padres and the then-San Diego Clippers on the same day in 1981, and a year later began his 20-year Hall of Fame career with the Padres. He later coached baseball at SDSU for 12 seasons before dying of cancer in 2014 at age 54.

But the hoops teams themselves have been mostly mediocre. Fisher inherited one of the worst teams in the country when he was hired in March 2000, bringing Dutcher along as an assistant. Together they built the Aztecs into a West Coast power. Dutcher took over after Fisher retired six years ago.

“Everybody’s just fired up,” Marlowe said. “Sometimes the longest road can be the most beautiful thing. When you’re winning every year, when you’re contending every year, there are high expectations. I don’t think anybody really expected this San Diego State team to get to the Final Four, but they have a terrific, interesting team to watch, with a collection of manly men — strong and broad and long and jumpy, and yet they are very disciplined under Brian Dutcher, which is really impressive.”

Tony Gwynn Jr., who played for his dad at SDSU, said it’s “surreal” to see his alma mater in the Final Four.

“For those of us who have watched the Aztecs as long as I have, this is almost a coming out party,” Gwynn said. “Those are the type of wins that change the program forever and hopefully

moving forward this is a consistent team.”

Gwynn imagines his father “having a smile from ear to ear” if he were still alive. “That’s how big of a deal this is. My dad’s first love was basketball. He loved it so much that he was broadcasting State games for a while there. He loved the program. He got to see it in its infant stages and go from doormat to seeing the potential that it had.”

Gwynn’s phone was blowing up on Sunday, too. He was broadcasting the Padres’ spring training game against Seattle in Peoria, Arizona. Mariners first baseman Ty France, who played at SDSU for Gwynn’s dad, had just taken his defensive position when the score of the Aztecs game was announced on the PA system.

“He was celebrating, I’m hanging out the window, giving a round of applause. It was a San Diego State moment for sure,” said Gwynn, adding that pretty much everybody he went to school with began texting him. “My phone could not stop buzzing.”

Asked if he knew how many NCAA championships SDSU has won, junior guard Lamont Butler said: “I think it’s zero.” Told about the 1973 men’s volleyball team, he added: “Oh wow, I didn’t know that.”

Gwynn also thought it was zero and then guessed the one title was men’s golf.

Told it was men’s volleyball, he quickly added: “Before we got rid of the program.”

That 1973 national championship volleyball team will have a 50th reunion in August in San Diego at the home of Duncan McFarland, who was MVP of the NCAA Tournament.

“If San Diego State happens to win the basketball championship, that would make it even more entertaining, I think,” Marlowe said

By JAY COHEN The Associated Press

Bulls center Andre Drummond missed Chicago’s game Friday night against the Los Angeles Lakers after he posted on Twitter that he was deleting his social media apps to focus on his mental health.

Drummond was ruled out because of personal reasons, according to the Bulls. Coach Billy Donovan said he is hopeful about the possibility of Drummond traveling with the team ahead of Friday night’s game at Charlotte.

“As we come here and play games there’s also a human side, a personal side to all these guys,” Donovan said, “and you feel bad when anybody’s going through something like that. I think you try to give as much support as you can.”

The 29-year-old Drummond is in his first year with Chicago and his 11th season in the NBA overall. The two-time All-Star posted on Tuesday that he was deleting his apps and changing his number.

“Time to focus on my mental health,” Drummond wrote. “If you too are struggling with your mental health, you are not alone ... it’s okay to ask for help.”

Drummond is averaging 6.1 points and 6.7 rebounds in 62 games for the Bulls in a reserve role. He had 11 points and eight rebounds during Monday night’s 124-112 loss at the Los Angeles Clippers.

“Sometimes when people look at these guys and they see them play and they see these NBA players, stars, all this other stuff, and all the stuff that comes with it.”

PHELAN M. EBENHACK • The Associated Press

ERIC CHRISTIAN SMITH • The Associated Press

San Diego State head coach Brian Dutcher calls out instructions during the first half of a first-round college basketball game against Charleston in the NCAA Tournament March 16, 2023, in Orlando, Florida.

Chicago Bulls center Andre Drummond (3) shoots as Tari Eason defends during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Saturday, March 11, 2023.

VA RI ET Y

What to expect for ‘Brave Hearts’

By KENDALL LARSON Staff Writer

The Brave Hearts Discussion, hosted by the Women’s Center, is an event where students can come and talk about umbrella terms such as abortion and domestic violence. For their meeting on March 30, the topic of discussion will be reproductive justice. Even though the Brave Hearts Discussion has a topic, Mai Ker (MK) Thao assures students are welcome to bring any subject to the discussion.

“Our topic for Thursday is reproductive justice, and the students bring what they feel fits into that topic. And if we go off-topic, that’s fine because we want this to really be a student-led conversation,” Thao said.

With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, many states have outlawed abortion, causing many women to carry to term.

With lawmakers going further into trying to ban contraceptives, it is important more than ever to talk about reproductive justice and the issues that fall under it.

On a campus scale, the discussion is there to help students talk about complex issues, such

as reproductive justice. When students have concerns, they are encouraged to reach out and ask questions.

“We wanted to create a comfortable and safe space for students to come in and talk about their concerns and if they’re confused about something,” Thao said.

On a broader scale, the discussions help to educate students on these complicated topics, creating a more aware society.

“We wanted to make sure students have the awareness they need, come in with their own questions, and have a kind of educational discussion with the chance of respectful debates occurring,” Thao stated.

An important part of the discussions is that students are not required to speak.

“Students can just sit and listen. They do not have to talk, but if they want to talk, that is great,” Thao said.

Because the Brave Hearts Discussion covers tough topics and questions, Thao ensures staff are trained to help students present during the discussion if they need help during a session.

“We have trained staff called confidential advocates who help

Thao, pictured above, is the one usually in charge of the ‘Brave Hearts’ discussions. This week’s theme is reproductive justice, although each week is open to the discussion of any topics.

students deal with their trauma at the moment. They don’t have to make reports, so that you can walk away without worry.”

The topics covered aren’t “glittery,” so trigger warnings are given to help students. If you’re uncomfortable, you can leave anytime and re-enter whenever you are ready.

Some advice when coming to the Brave Hearts Discussion is to go in with an open mind and some questions and be prepared

OPINION: Five more useless items, ranked

By JOEY ERICKSON Variety Editor

The night sky has been chased away by the rising of the morning sun, and it is yet again time for me to rank another set of five fruitless, inanimate objects.

for some “educational awareness.”

“Find topics that you are interested in or don’t know much about. Whatever your preferences are, come to the discussion,” Thao recommended.

The discussions also try to cover what can be done about an issue. So while the topics can be “gloomy,” there are positives to remember and resources to look at.

Maverick Writers Club spells out success

By JADE JACKSON Staff Writer

Here at Minnesota State University, Mankato, there are a lot of clubs that aren’t as familiar with students as others are. The Maverick Writers club is one of them.

With many different students who hope to advance their careers with some sort of writing, I had the pleasure to sit down with senior Nicole Payne, and junior Isaiah Flolo who both have very incredible writing skills.

Junior, Isaiah Flolo is running for vice president next year. Hoping to get enough votes, Flolo says, “ever since elementary school, I started writing and people enjoyed it. It wasn’t just my parents encouraging me, it was many of my peers too. As I kept discovering myself I knew that I wanted to become an author when I grow up. Being in college has allowed me to dive deeper into my dream”.

“Being in the Maverick Writers club has challenged me to be a better writer. In our meetings we are always trying to improve each other’s pieces, it’s such a

competitive environment and we all thrive within it,” said Flolo.

Transitioning to Nicole Payne, she’s a senior that has been a part of the Maverick Writers for a long time. When

asked what her favorite aspect of the club was, she said overwhelmingly, “my favorite aspect of the club is for sure the environment, they’re my people, we have so much in common. It’s amazing because we keep each

other connected in the Minnesota State Mankato community”, stated Payne.

Payne then stated that writing is her getaway. “It’s really

After the publication of the last column ranking, I received heaps upon heaps of praise. My letterbox was so full of mail that I, in a fleeting moment of weakness, thought that the IRS had finally caught up to me under my new veiled identity, subpoenaing me regarding my years and years of tax evasion.

Luckily, that wasn’t the case. Just fan mail and Hello Fresh coupons.

The items on this week’s list are: a harmonica, a chenille stick, a hand mirror, a rusty nail, and a container of pudding.

In last place is the chenille stick. If you’re anything like me, you probably had to look up what a chenille stick even is. Maybe it’s the result of an extremely French person trying to say the words “channel stick,” because they forgot what the name is for a remote control.

“Chenille stick” is French for pipe cleaner, the furry caterpillar-esque sticks commonly used in elementary classrooms to make flowers, crowns or nooses for your enemies. Good luck trying to turn up the volume of your soaps with that. (Or, if that extremely French person I mentioned earlier is reading this, “Oui oui, baguette.” Hope this helps!)

In fourth place is a container of pudding. I try to leave my opinions and biases at the door for my columns, especially when it comes to personal rankings, but for pudding I must make an exception. Pudding stresses me out, severely.

What is it? Why is it like that? Thankfully, pudding is a delicacy most commonly enjoyed by Brits. Bread pudding, blood pudding, black pudding. It begs the question: Do British people have bad teeth simply due to subpar dental hygiene, or is it because the teeth are literally running away from the pudding like their lives depend on it?

In third place is the hand mirror. Eyes are the windows to the soul, and compacts are the mirrors of the hands.

Courtesy The Women’s Center

Mai Ker

Courtesy Maverick Writers Club

The Maverick Writers club is not just open to Minnesota State students majoring in English or Creative Writing. The club is open to all writing fanatics, regardless of major!

Serendipity Concert Series continues with Chad and Jeenti

OPINION: Kids and technology: how much is too much?

By MERCEDES KAUPHUSMAN Staff Writer

The way that today’s society relies on technology is like oxygen to a pair of lungs. Without that constant breath of fresh air, we wouldn’t know how to function.

As a part of Generation Z, technology has been rapidly progressing since I first locked eyes with a screen. My first robot that I can recall was a pink iPod nano that I brought with me on the bus every day to and from school. My neighbor and I would each take an earbud and blast the sweet hymns of Justin Bieber. However, it wasn’t until that first interaction with a touch-screen device that changed the future of gadgetry forever.

youth. The dependency on technology that Generation Alpha has is impossible to ignore. Parenting was simplified when gadgets came into the picture; after all, it is easier to calm down a child by placing an iPad in front of them than looking for other solutions they’ll find mundane. However, what consequence will this electronic obsession have when these children turn into adults?

By LAUREN VISKA Staff Writer

Chad Johnson and Jeenti Dunta lit up the Centennial Student Union Hearth Lounge Wednesday in the latest Serendipity Concert Series.

Johnson has been playing music since he was in middle school, when he had the desire to start playing an instrument. He started on drums and transitioned to guitar.

“When I was 15 or 16, I started dabbling with the guitar a bit and learning a few chords. I never had any lessons or anything. I just learned slowly,” said Johnson. “By the time I was 19, I didn’t want to play drums anymore. I just wanted to go forward with guitar and singing. So now it is intertwined with the Cajon and my acoustic shows to bring back that percussion side of how I started.”

Students noticed Johnson played guitar while singing and making acoustic drum sounds with his feet.

“I always noticed that I naturally moved my feet to the beat when playing guitar. So I figured out, ‘OK, I need to find a way to get a couple of things going with my feet,’ whether it’s a kick drum, a tambourine or a shaker. Something to incorporate those things,” said Johnson. “So, my feet were already naturally doing that when I was playing my guitar. It was an easy transition for me to try to do something like that, and it has a cool element to our acoustic shows.”

Some of Johnson’s inspirations and influences are veteran artists.

His parents would play various music while he was growing up. Those styles and artists influenced him in his music style today.

“I had these influences that kind of cross between rock ‘n’ roll and country. So from that age, I was always really into both, and I liked both equally,” said Johnson. “When I was in junior high, I started

being inspired by and wanting to play music. That was in the mid-90s when Nirvana and all these alternative rock bands were really big. That’s when I got influenced. Rock bands were coming out in this little town called Canada Falls. It has a world-famous studio. So knowing that Nirvana and all those bands were recording right by where I lived was super cool and inspiring.”

Johnson’s favorite part of performing is getting to do different things.

“We’ll do full band shows with our band, and it’s a lot of fun to get people out there dancing,having a good time and partying. With our acoustic shows, it’s a bit more intimate, and people get into the lyrics,” said Johnson. “I like both sides of it, I feel like I get the best of both worlds when it comes to that. I get to experience the songwriter side, and people are just in there, hanging onto every word, and I get the other side of the party dancing, having a good time.”

Fast forward to Black Friday in 2011, the iPod touch 4th generation had officially been released a month prior; it was the first iPod to offer both a front and back facing camera. The “selfie” was officially born, and I needed my duckface to be captured. I saved up my allowance in a sock, and I had a mission to obtain this holy grail product while on sale at my local Walmart. I had little clue that this purchase would change my life, and I would never experience the world without a device in hand again.

I feel ancient thinking about how I lived nearly half of my life free of seeing a notification pop-up on a screen, especially when comparing it to today’s

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important to me. It’s such a good way to express my fun and creative thoughts or even my personal thoughts. I think I am a very creative, fun and abstract writer, and I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to do the things that I

Children are innocent, imaginative and have the constant desire to explore new things. During this short part of life, creativity is rushing through their bones. Being glued to a screen plugs up this stream, and stunts it by the time they enter adulthood. This can lead to a plethora of problems in the future— if we do not have innovative minds, innovation won’t happen, and shortly, we’ll be stuck in the mud.

Technology has dozens upon dozens of benefits, and it is undeniable that these will expand as time continues, and I do believe that it benefits younger generations. Children should be familiar with using technology so they are able to navigate its transformations, but I think it is best used in moderation. There should be a balance between keeping up to pace with our advancing world, and exploring the world outside to maintain a curious mind. Kids are kids, but they are also our future, and it is our job to install them with an intellectual foundation.

love at Minnesota State. It’s just a perfect way to get things off of your chest and inspire others while doing it,” Payne said. “Right now, I’m really enjoying poetry. It’s something I’ve picked up in the last year or so.”

Conversely, a hand mirror for humans could double as a fulllength floor mirror for a very small person. A Lilliput resident, perhaps, or possibly a Smurf.

There’s something quite debonair and suave about using a hand mirror to check your appearance, rather than a phone screen or a window reflection, I think. It makes me feel like a 14th century Germanic princess taking a well-deserved break from embroidering and dodging the bubonic plague to check my pallid reflection in the nearest still bowl of water.

In second place is a rusty nail. I believe it was the apostle

Peter who wrote in his self-titled New Testament epistle, “You can’t spell tetanus without ‘us!’” Nowadays, if an individual were to mistakenly step on a rusty nail, the recovery process would be nothing but a grocery list of antiseptics and antibiotics. Annoying, but doable.

Do you ever look at a really old person and feel like if you were to even sneeze in their direction they would just crumble away like a Nature Valley granola bar? That’s how I feel a Middle Ages-born child would react after being stung by a rust-infested screw.

“Oy, pap, me heel! Peace, break thee off! Mine own heel

hurts, anon i shall keel ov’r and kicketh the bucket. Bid mine own mother i loveth h’r!” Dust in the wind. Curtains close.

And in first place, on the top of the pyramid, is the harmonica. Don’t be fooled by the innocent nature of this instrument, and heed even further caution if your name is Monica.

The instrument’s name is nothing more than a threat to all Monica’s in the world, promising harm to them all. Are the tunes blowing out of the instrument’s pipes nothing more than a battle cry? Has anyone heard from Monica Lewinski since this revelation has been made? Things to think about.

PHIDEAS PIERIDES • The Reporter

Chad Johnson and Jeenti Dunta, above, known musically as the Chad and Jeenti Duo, performed at the Hearth Lounge in the CSU on Wednesday. Their music is criss-cross of rock and roll and country.

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Paltrow’s ski collision trial spawns memes, intrigue

Megan Thee Stallion headlines 2023 Essence Fest

By CHEVEL JOHNSON RODRIGUE Staff Writer

Hip hop takes center stage at this summer’s Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans as the event commemorates the 50th anniversary of the genre with performances by Lauryn Hill, Megan Thee Stallion and Jermaine Dupri.

Rap artist Doug E. Fresh will curate special performances by other soon-to-be announced hip hop pioneers, while Hill will mark the 25th anniversary of her five-time Grammy-winning album, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.”

By SAM METZ and ANNA FURMAN

When two skiers collided on a beginner run at an upscale Utah ski resort in 2016, no one could foresee that seven years later, the crash would become the subject of a closely watched celebrity trial.

But Gwyneth Paltrow’s livestreamed trial over her collision with Terry Sanderson, a 76-yearold retired optometrist, in Park City has emerged as the biggest celebrity court case since actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard faced off last year — spawning memes, sparking debate about the burden of fame, and making ski etiquette rules of who was uphill and who had the right of way relevant beyond those who can afford resort chairlift tickets.

As attorneys finished questioning witnesses Wednesday and prepared for closing arguments Thursday, here is a look back at highlights from the twoweek trial:

LIFESTYLES OF THE RICH AND THE FAMOUS

For seven days, attorneys have highlighted — and downplayed — Paltrow and Sanderson’s extravagant lifestyles.

Sanderson’s attorneys are asking for more than $300,000 in damages, but the money at stake for both sides pales in comparison to the typical legal costs of a multiyear lawsuit. Both sides have marshalled brigades of expert witnesses, including a biomechanical engineer and collision expert.

Paltrow’s legal team has attempted to represent Sanderson

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Payne then expressed, “I do a lot of slam poetry, it’s a lot of rhymes and such. A lot of things I talk about are factors and the culture of the LGBT community. I also discuss my experience being a part of that community.

I use my platforms to reach out to whoever wants to hear it”.

Flolo and Payne wanted to

as an angry, aging man who continued to travel internationally after the collision. They introduced photos into evidence of Sanderson camel riding in Morocco, trekking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru, and taking a continent-wide loop through Europe with stops in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France and Belgium.

Sanderson’s attorneys have questioned Paltrow about that day’s $8,890 bill for private ski instructors for four children accompanying her, as well as her decision to leave the slope after the crash to get a massage. They’ve said the accident caused Sanderson to grow distant from friends and family, and they called his ex-girlfriend to testify about how their relationship deteriorated because he “had no joy left in his life.”

To keep jurors engaged, Paltrow’s team shared a series of advanced, high-resolution animations to accompany their witnesses’ recollections. The renderings reflect the financial investment Paltrow and her defense team are devoting to the case.

THE BURDEN OF FAME

Attorneys on both sides have tapped into the power of celebrity to make their cases that reputations and moral principles are what’s at stake in the trial.

Sanderson’s side has tried to characterize Paltrow, the actor-turned-lifestyle influencer, as clumsy, out of touch, and evading accountability. They likened her decision to file a $1 countersuit against Sanderson.

In addition, the event will laud Dupri, a Grammy award-winning producer and founder of the So So Def record label, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary. He will coordinate special performances by some of the Atlanta-based artists that So So Def has produced. Those performers have yet to be named, but Dupri has worked with Da Brat, Bow Wow, Xscape, Jagged Edge and Anthony Hamilton.

Also headlining is three-time Grammy winning rapper Megan Thee Stallion, whose work includes such hits as “Savage,” “Hot Girl Summer,” and “Body.”

The festival is set to run June 30 through July 3, with three nights of music inside the Superdome, beginning that Friday. Other artists scheduled to perform so far include Monica, Wizkid, Coco Jones and Kizz Daniel, with more talent for the nightly concerts to be announced later.

Presented by Coca-Cola, the

Hip hop takes center stage at this summer’s Essence Festival of Culture as the event commemorates the 50th anniversary of the genre with performances.

festival has featured some of the world’s biggest entertainers including Janet Jackson, Beyonce, Prince, Kanye West, Mary J. Blige, Jill Scott, Kendrick Lamar and Sean “P. Diddy” Combs.

Essence Fest was founded in 1995 as a one-time event to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Essence Magazine, but it has grown into one of New Orleans’ marquee events bolstering the city’s summer tourism season.

In addition to the concerts, there are free daytime seminars held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, as well as the Essence Food & Wine Festival, Beautycon, Essence Authors and other events held in the city and aimed at engaging the community and economically benefiting local Blackowned businesses.

“As the nation’s largest festival by per day attendance, (the

festival) continues to be a crown jewel of Black culture and plays a pivotal role in the amplification and celebration of the contributions of the Black community through business, music, and more,” said Vice President of ESSENCE Festival of Culture Hakeem Holmes.

Both Hill and Dupri have history with Essence. Hill performed at the festival in 1999, and last year, she made a surprise appearance during her former Fugees bandmate Wyclef Jean’s set, sending the audience into orbit with their performance of “Fu-Gee-La” and “Ready or Not.”

Dupri shared the 2019 stage with Grammy-winning songbird Mariah Carey, rapper Lil Jon and others.

In 2020 and 2021, the festival was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2022 version was held in-person and virtually.

leave the viewers with one announcement: If you’re interested in an undergrad where you publish your written works, reach out to the club. Check out the club’s posters and contact them at the riverwhalellmagazine@ gmail.com.

Be sure to have your requirements met by March 31.

RICK BOWMER • The Associated Press Paltrow’s live-streamed trial over a 2016 collision at a posh Utah ski resort has drawn worldwide attention, spawning memes and sparking debate about the burden and power of celebrity.

The Associated Press

SCOTT GARFITT • The Associated Press